Monday, December 4, 2017

Hospitality News For The Week Of 12/1/17

Inbound U.S. tourism drops, industry promises action

According
to data published this week by the U.S. Department of Commerce National Travel
and Tourism Office, inbound tourism during the first six months of 2017 has
declined by almost 4 percent when compared to the first half of 2016. Although
the complete figures for 2017 will not be known until later in 2018,
indications are not good at this point. The 3.9 percent decline in
international tourism is driving an increase in global promotions by U.S.
travel companies. The efforts are being made in response to internationally
unpopular U.S. government policy changes. Full Story Here:

AARP: More Baby Boomers Want Relaxing Getaways in 2018

AARP
Travel has recently published a new survey indicating members of the Baby Boom
generation are expecting fewer barriers to leisure travel in 2018.
Additionally, they report a desire for more relaxation during their vacations
in the coming year. According to the survey, Boomers will take four or five
leisure trips in 2018 and spend $6,400 on average. This is compared to
Millennials ($6,800) and Gen Xers ($5,400). The number of Boomers taking most
or all of their vacation time is expected to rise in 2018 from 59 percent in
2017 to 68 percent during the year to come. Full Story Here:

PolyU Study Urges Hotels to Engage the Facebook Generation

Researchers
at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) at The Hong Kong
Polytechnic University are urging hotels to make greater use of social media in
the evaluation of their own performance. A study was conducted by the
researchers of hundreds of reviews of New York hotels on the TripAdvisor
website and found the hotel features found to be most and least satisfying and
dissatisfying. These reviews will greatly aid hoteliers in their efforts to
gain a better understanding of their customers, according to the researchers.
Full Story Here:

In
year-over-year results the U.S. hotel industry posted positive performance
figures during the week of 19-25 November 2017, according to a report by STR.
When compared to the same week in 2016, industry-wide occupancy was +1.4
percent higher at 51.4 percent. Average daily rate rose by +2.0 percent to
finish at $109.99 for the week. Revenue per available room climbed up +3.4
percent to end the week at $56.52. Full Story Here: